The best laptops for your every need

Laptops are on the rise again with Windows 10's arrival and a host of other factors including: Ultrabooks taking off in popularity. 2-in-1 laptop-tablet hybrids are seeing ever increasing releases. Cheap laptops, like may have stolen the show from Budget laptops are retaking ground from cheap Chromebooks with machines like the HP Pavilion x2. Meanwhile, performance gaming notebooks are on the rise and quickly becoming perfectly good replacements for your desktop computers.

With so many options to chose from picking the best laptop for your needs is getting harder. That's why it's important to start off by figuring out what you want to do with your new notebook.

Those after a fast boot up time and a lightweight machine to carry might drool over an Ultrabook. Serious gamers will gravitate towards machines tailored to their graphical and processing needs, while those after flexibility might fancy a convertible laptop-tablet hybrid.

It might seem overwhelming at first – what with all of the choices – but we're here to help you find the best laptop for you. Believe us when we say that there is a perfect laptop out there for you. With this guide, you'll find not only that, but which is the absolute best.

What does TechRadar recommend?

We're so glad you asked! Below you'll find what we think are the absolute best laptops in a number of categories, always up-to-date.

Best Ultrabook: Dell XPS 13 (2015)

Possibly the best laptop on the planet, Dell's latest is a masterpiece

The Dell XPS 13 (2015) isn't just an astonishingly thin and light laptop, it's a revolution in design. Fitting a 13.3-inch screen into a 11-inch laptop frame is no small feat, but Dell has pulled off a miracle creating a nearly borderless infinity display. This is also one powerful and long lasting machine, all while coming in at a very affordable starting price. It easily takes the top slot as the best Ultrabook and the best Windows laptop.

As far as performance and screen resolution, nothing comes even close to rivaling Google's latest Chromebook Pixel. Packing a 2,560 x 1,700 IPS touchscreen, Intel Core i5-5200U CPU and even a USB type-C connector, the Pixel is on the bleeding edge. It's no surprise how Google labels it as a developer device for programmers building the future of Chrome OS. It has more than a few quirks including a square body and 3:2 screen, but if you're looking for the very best Chromebook this is it.

In the last few years, gaming laptops have amazing headway in catching up with their desktop gaming counterparts. And so it seems the most logical conclusion of this evolution was to start packing desktop parts inside a gaming laptop. Enter the Origin EON15-X, an unbelievably powerful 15.6-inch laptop rocking out a full-size desktop processor and the highest-end mobile GPU available. You might think this combo would produce a boat of a laptop, but the EON15-X manages to fit everything into a small, attractive shell.

The Surface Pro 3 is Microsoft's most striking and versatile device to date, and serves as the most convincing poster child for the 2-in-1 hybrid category yet. Through years of refinement, Microsoft's newest tablet-hybrid has seen some significant upgrades including a bigger, higher-res display and sharper exterior. Even the smallest little things like the hinge and type cover have been re-engineered to make the Surface Pro 3 a much more stable and usable device. This makes it easy to use whether you're at a desk, sitting or even lying down.

The Asus ZenBook UX305 might look like a MacBook Air from every angle, but it's a better machine in almost every way. It's thinner, lighter and even more attractive in some ways with its purple tinged aluminum body. Plus this machine also has a higher-res full HD display with a fanless Intel Core M CPU and 256GB of SSD storage by default. The most amazing thing is you can get all of this for just $699 or £649 (about AU$902), which makes this one of the best deals for a laptop for students around.

The Lenovo ThinkPad W550s is pretty much everything you want a mobile workstation to be with understated aesthetics and a durable design on the outside. At the same time, it offers business users plenty of screen resolution, long battery life and strong, reliable performance. Starting at $1,196 (£1,229. AU$1546), the W550s is on the expensive side but it's well worth the premium as the best mobile workstations.

The 2014 13-inch MacBook Pro was arguably Apple's best laptop ever, and the 2015 model is somehow even faster and delivers longer battery life. Aside from an from being an annual refresh, the Retina Screen equipped MacBook Pro has also inherited the newly introduced MacBook's Force Touch trackpad. Apple might not spring up as the leading name for most business applications, but getting Mac is pretty enticing when you stack up the number for freebies including office programs and software upgrades. Check out the rest of our picks for the best business laptops.

Starting at $700 (£437 and AU$800), the Venue Pro 7000 offers a nice balance of performance and portability in the perfect balance you'd look for in the best Windows tablet. The Venue 11 Pro is a versatile Windows slate with enterprise features and it can be readily convert to a laptop or desktop with the right accessory add-ons. As a standalone tablet it's also a joy to use with its 10-inch, 1080p display plus the onboard Intel Core M processor to keep things light, thin and above all, fanless.

Laptops on our radar for 2015

You've checked out the best laptops out there and now you're hungry for more. Don't worry: so are we, which is why we want to give you a glimpse of some of the hottest devices set to launch soon. Whether you're thinking about picking up a new 2-in-1 to test Windows 10's Continuum feature or intend to replace your ageing gaming laptop in a few months' time, we're keeping an eye on tomorrow's technology so that you can start saving those pennies today.

Surface Pro 4

With the Windows 10 launch looming on the horizon, it seems high time that Microsoft finally announce a new Surface Pro tablet. It's long overdue after all the Surface Pro 3 was first announced back in May 20, 2014.

Despite the long lead time between releases, recent rumors have suggested Microsoft's next tablet won't diverge as extremely as the series' last iteration. In fact the general manager behind the Surface line has even said Surface Pro 3's accessories will work with their next device, which means the two devices will likely share a very similar design. The latest report from DigiTimes suggests we might see the next Surface tablet this October, if rumors of an influx of SSD purchases by Microsoft are to be believed.

Toshiba Satellite Radius 15

Following up on introducing the first convertible Windows 8.1 laptop, Toshiba wants to be first in line with a 4K hybrid ready for Windows 10. Aside from some aspirations to meet a long-winded accolade, the Toshiba Radius 15 is shaping up to be a solid laptop already. The new aluminum-body and new streamlined body also helps make this laptop a solid sell in our book.

HP Pavilion x360

Although we've only had a brief hands on time with the HP Pavilion x360, we're blown away by what 400 bucks gets you these days. The new 11.6-inch 2-in-1 convertible laptops comes well packaged with a 1080p screen paired with a capable Intel Pentium processor and it even inherits the innovative geared hinge design from the high-end HP Spectre x360.

The HP Pavilion x360 is looking like a sweet deal for users who want an affordable machine that can be more than just a laptop. It's not the prettiest or lightest convertible around, but HP has worked hard to make an appealing budget system. The HP Pavilion x360 is a solid system both in person and on paper, but I'll have to really put it through its paces before I can give the final verdict on this affordable 2-in-1 laptop.

Lenovo Yoga 4 Pro

Similar to the Surface Pro 3, we're expecting Lenovo to pull out all the stop for a new and improved Yoga tablet. The Yoga 3 Pro impressed as one of world's the thinnest and most premium 2-in-1 laptop. However, this attractive machine was not without some flaws including poor battery life and a disappointing level of performance. We're hoping the next iteration will be just as wonderful to use as it is to look at.

HP Pavilion x2

HP has introduced a new plastic and fantastic 10.1-inch laptop-tablet hybrid just in time for Windows 10. How quaint! Although the HP Pavilion x2 comes rocking only a 1,280 x 800 resolution display it has plenty to offer on the audio front with Bang & Olufsen-tuned speakers. Amazingly, this small 2-in-1 comes priced at $300 or £250 (about AU$383), given HP's reputation to break new ground in the affordable Windows laptop space this convertible follow up could be a resounding success.